on afterwords, princeton university pressor, author of we are the leaders we are looking for shares his views on black politics and how the black community moves forward in america's democracy, he is interviewed by harvard university history, race and public policy professor khalil mohamed. watch booktv every sunday on c-span 2 and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime, booktv.org. >> the house will be in order. >> this year c-span celebrates 45 years of covering congress like no other. since 1979, we've been your primary source for capitol hill providing balanced, unfiltered coverage of government taking you to where the policy is debated and decided with the support of america's cable companies. c-span. 45 years and counting, powered

by cable. >> president biden campaigned in philadelphia where he compared his vision for the country with that of donald trump. president biden credited the principles of robert f kennedy and martin luther king junior for guiding his political judgments. prior to the president's marks, harry kennedy spoke in support of the president's reelection campaign on behalf of the kennedy family despite the independent white house bid of robert kennedy junior. this is 25 minutes. >> thank you for those inspiring words. my name is terry kennedy. i'm the seventh child of robert and ethel kennedy. i am joined here today with my sisters, kathleen, joe, chris, and max.

[applause] >> and with my hero, president joe biden. [cheers and applause] >> president biden has said very moving believe that his long career in public service was prompted by a speech my father, robert kennedy, gave in indianapolis on april 4, 1968, the night martin luther king was murdered. two days later, along with my parents and siblings, i said in the den of our home in northern virginia and watched in horror as washington burned. daddy left the room and got in his car. 15 minutes later, we were all still glued to the tv, suddenly daddy was on the news. in the midst of the mayhem,

trying to put out the flames of loss and pain, fear and rage in the wake of doctor king's death, that was an incredible listen to me as an 8-year-old child. he showed us that when everyone else was running away from the flames of anguish and despair, leaders run towards them, that is who joe biden is. [applause] >> he is the first sitting president in our history who has traveled to an active war zone not under us control not once but twice, to show support for our allies. he was always running into the flames so we don't have too.

in every imaginable way, president biden has spent his presidency and his career running into the flames for working people, for moms, dads, families, he support unions, a passion of my father's, he marched with united auto workers during the right to strike which helped bring that strike to a swift end. thank you, joe biden. he looked out for teachers, nurses, truck drivers, good workers. he has been tireless on leaving the debt incurred by working and middle-class kids trying to get ahead by getting an education. thank you, joe biden. [applause] >> he passed the infrastructure bill, he builds bridges, he has made the working american the hero of every story. thank you, joe biden.

[applause] >> he got inflation under control and violent crime is down in america under joe biden's leadership. he has -- believing like good neighbors, he stepped into the flames of chaos and turned it into community. thank you, joe biden. [applause] we want to make crystal clear our feelings that the best way forward for america is to reelect joe biden and kamala harris to four more years. four more years. four more years. four more years. four more years, four more years. [chanting]

>> president biden has been a champion for all the rights and freedoms my father and uncle stood for. that is why nearly every single grandchild of joe and rose kennedy supports joe biden. [applause] >> that's right. the kennedy family and sources joe biden for president. [applause] >> when daddy announced his bid for the presidency in 1968 he talked about the perilous course our country would take under the wrong leadership and he said i feel obliged to do all that i can. i cannot stand the thought, we are here because we feel obliged to do all that we can.

we cannot stand the thought, in the selection no american can stand aside. we must vote. [applause]. >> in 2,024, there only two candidates with any chance of winning the presidency, we know them well. four years ago our country was crippled by covid, chaos, and the effects of unprincipled leadership. four years later, thanks to joe biden we are enjoying unprecedented economic expansion with more people working than at any time in our history. over 15 million new jobs have been created, almost 800,000 manufacturing jobs, thank you, joe biden. [applause]

>> wages are up, inflation caused by once in a generation pandemic is coming down, thank you, joe biden. [applause] >> he has made vast investments in historically black colleges and universities to create more access to opportunities. he has appointed more black women to circuit court 7 every other president combined. and put katanji brown jackson on the supreme court, thank you, joe biden. he rippled the refugee program that was decimated by his predecessor and brought together a coalition of world leaders to stop russian aggression in ukraine. thank you, joe biden. [applause] >> we are standing here in the

martin luther king recreation center for children as family members, let us not forget that president biden always advocated for the rights of people to live, to play, to go to school in communities free of gun violence. he signed the most significant gun safety legislation in 30 years, thank you, joe biden. [applause] >> as donald trump brags about overturning roe versus wade, rolling back the clock 50 years to when women couldn't make our own health care decisions, president biden is fighting to get our freedoms that, thank you, joe biden. [applause] >> this is only part of the

long list of freedoms and rights that president biden is protecting during the period of constant are solved, make no mistake, all these rights and freedoms are on the ballot in november. donald trump is running to take us backwards, attacking the most basic rights and freedoms at the core of who we are as americans. he is saying he will be a dictator on day one, even saying he wants to suspend the constitution and go after his enemies, after his critics, after the press. he is running to use his power to punish his enemies, silences opponents and insight more chaos, division, and political violence with his extreme agenda. he is the most anti-democratic president in american history.

[applause] >> donald trump uses dangerous conspiracy theories on climate change, vaccines, windmills and voter fraud. he is pledging to repeal the affordable care act and cut social security and medicare, ripping away healthcare and earned benefits for millions of americans who rely on them in their retirement. i can only imagine how donald trump's outrageous lies and behaviors would have horrified my father, senator robert f kennedy, who proudly served as attorney general of the united states and honored his pledge to uphold the law and protect the country. daddy stood for equal justice, for human rights and freedoms from want and fear just as president biden does today. [applause]

>> donald trump as he mocks our system of laws, predicted a bloodbath if he loses the election. we can't afford to ignore his morning. we can take today with urgency that our rights and freedoms are once again in peril. this is why we need to come together in a campaign that should unite not only democrats but all americans including republicans and independents who believe in what lincoln called the better angels of our nature. [applause] >> a vote for joe biden is a vote for our democracy and our decency. it is the vote for what my father called, in his own presidential announcement in 1968, our right to the moral

leadership of this planet. president biden remembers when doctor king died, daddy addressed a crowd organized by john lewis and the largest black community in indianapolis and on that terrible night, he said but we need in the united states is not division. what we need in the united states is not hatred. what we need in the united states is not violence or lawlessness, love and wisdom and compassion toward one another and feeling of justice towards those who still suffer in this country whether they be black or they be white. joe biden's every decision is informed by his love, his wisdom and his compassion towards those who suffer.

that is why we are so happy today to pledge our unwavering support to president joe biden and president kamala harris. god bless all of you, god bless america and please welcome president joe biden. [applause] [cheers and applause] >> president biden: please have a seat if you have one. mom and dad, hope you are listening. what an incredible honor. what an incredible honor, i don't want to become emotional but what an incredible honor to have the support of the kennedy family.

john white junior, thanks for those kind words and for carrying on your family's civil rights legacy. and your son who is doing a helluva job on our campaign. [applause] >> president biden: that will help us win pennsylvania. >> president biden: the most meaningful introduction i've ever gotten in my life. other than when my sister introduced me and i want to thank you for your friendship well beyond the introduction. an incredible honor to receive the endorsement of your family and it means so much to me. your mom, ethel who i spoke with on the phone a couple weeks ago, i guess last week, which her happy birthday, she's always been gracious to my

family during the most difficult time of my life, she's done so much in her own right. and your dad i never got to meet, a senator from new york, he came to syracuse university and spoke and i waited in line, didn't get a chance to physically meet him but he inspired me, his passion and courage inspired my generation. i remember april 4, 1968, i was finishing law school at syracuse university when we heard doctor king had been assassinated, the pain and outrage sparked riots and despair across the country including in my home state of delaware. then we heard a familiar voice i listened to many times, your dad, bobby kennedy, standing in back of a truck in indianapolis asking for peace quote in one

of his great poets, quote, even in our sleep, our pain which cannot forget, falls drop by drop upon the heart until in our own despair, against our will comes wisdom from the grace of god. i had a hard time believing that day there was anyone trying to work up from despair, where we would go. even harder to believe two months later on june 5th. i learned an incredible man later that night had been assassinated. another tragedy to your family and a gigantic tragedy for the country. only two political heroes i had growing up were gone within a month of each other. we faced a real inflection deck as a nation.

when i returned home to my city of wilmington, one of the city's only cities since reconstruction occupied by the military, the national guard, withdrawn bayonets on every street corner for 9 straight months following doctor king's murder. when i graduated that summer, a child of one of the oldest law firms but after a matter of months i left that law firm and took a job as a public defender because i wanted to be more engaged. i ran for county counsel of the united states senate. i did so in large part because i thought that is something your dad would have done. i'm not exaggerating. it has always been on my mind, one of my heroes. today i sit behind the resolute desk where president john f. kennedy once sat. as i look from the desk if

you've ever taken a tour of the white house, sit in that desk and look in front of the fireplace, to the left is a bust of martin luther king, to the right is a bust of your dad and i remember reminding myself what they would do, tough calls. [applause] >> president biden: bobby kennedy embodied prince. by my parents and grandparents around the kitchen table. that's not hyperbole, that's a fact which my dad said everyone is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect no matter what their station, no matter what. the worst sin of all, i mean this from the bottom of my heart, the worst sin of all was the abuse of power, physical power, economic power. that was the worst sin of all, abuse of power.

and we have an obligation to each other to leave no one behind, to give hate no safe harbor, except all of us to preserve and protect the idea of america. we are unique in american and world history, the only nation founded on an idea. every other nation was founded on geography, ethnicity, race, religion, except us. think about it. the idea was we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal in the image of god and deserve to be treated that way throughout their lives. we've never fully lived up to it but we've never walked away from it. we've never walked away from it. and we are not going to walk away from it now. [applause] >> president biden: today we face another inflection point in history. the 2,024 election is about two

fundamentally different visions for america. donald trump's vision is one of anger, hate, revenge and retribution. he embraces the insurrectionist's of january 6th. 6. he is running on it. as much is already promised to be dictator on day one, his own words. you know he means it. he calls for another bloodbath when he loses again. [applause] >> president biden: the kennedy family has endured such violence. whitewashing what happened was outrageous. i have a different view of america. one of hope and optimism like all of you do. optimism that bobby kennedy embodied. i see an america where we defend democracy, not diminish it. i see america where we protect our freedoms, not take them away.

i see an america where the economy grows from the middle out and the bottom up, the middle class does well and the poor have a shot and where healthcare is a right, not a privilege. [applause] >> president biden: all the stuff we've done so far, we have cut the budget by a lot of money, one hundred $72 billion so far so don't tell me it can't be done. [applause] >> president biden: i see a future for a planet, we save the planet and this guy is busting his neck doing it, from climate change, literally, climate crisis in america, we've got to do something. the idea we sent kids to school teaching them duck and cover, think about it.

the idea the united states of america, duck and cover in school, more kids being killed by gun violence than anything else. folks, the america we are building if we are going to get it done, now it is time to keep going and not slow down because there is so much at stake in. let me close with his this. i know bobby kennedy liked greek poets, i prefer irish poets. [applause] >> that's not a joke unfortunately. my colleagues used to kidney for quoting irish poets on the floor of the senate. they thought i did it because i'm irish. that's not the reason. they are the best poets in the world. one i enjoyed particularly, shamus haney wrote a poem called the cure at troy. it reminds me of the courage of bobby kennedy. i mean this from the bottom of my heart, it goes like this.

history teaches us do not hope on this side of the grave, but then, once-in-a-lifetime, long for a tidal wave that will rise up, and hope and history rhyme. june 2024, we have a chance to make hope and history rhyme again. are you ready to do that with me? [applause] >> president biden: are you ready to move forward, not back? [cheers is applause] >> president biden: are you ready to choose unity over division? [cheers and applause] >> president biden: dignity over demolition. choose truth overlies. are we ready to choose freedom over democracy? that is america. folks, i've been doing this for a long, i know i look i am 40 but i'm doing this for a long time. i have never been more

optimistic about our future, and i mean it. just remember who we are. we are the united states of america. there is nothing, think about it, the only nation in the world that came out of every crisis stronger than we went in. there is nothing beyond our capacity when we do it together. god bless you all, may god protect our troops. [applause] [applause] [chanting] >> four more years. four more years. four more years. four more years. ♪♪ ♪♪ [applause]

>> over the hill, don lemon would say that the man in his prime. >> watch c-span coverage of the annual white house correspondents dinner live saturday, april 27th with saturday night live weekend cohost as well as president biden who is expected to give remarks. coverage begins at 6:00 pm eastern on c-span.org and c-span now as journalist and celebrity's walk the red carpet

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